Celebrate Health’s quinoa with lemon and thyme

I just love trying new products that I see on the supermarkets shelves, don’t you? I do taste testing for Taste and have done recipe testing for a cookbook or two. I thought that when I try new products, I would share them with you.

Quinoa (pronounciation – keen-wah). I thought it was about time to finally try this superfood! Everyone has been talking about it for a few years now so it was time to finally time to see what all the fuss was about.

Quinoa, as everyone knows, is good for you. Quinoa is packed with nutrients, amino acids, fibre and anti-aging radicals. It has been around for thousands of years, yet is only relatively new to us. It is a versatile grain which can be used as breakfast, lunch, dinner or desserts, sweet or savoury, cooked and uncooked. WOW! It’s such an all round grain. I can’t believe I never got around to trying it sooner!

Trying to find quinoa in my area was quite difficult. I had to try 5 different supermarkets within a 15 kilometre radius before I found some! When I came across this packet quinoa by Celebrate Health, I was pleasantly surprised – quinoa, in a packet?! I wonder what it will be like? Lets give it a try.

The packaging, as you can see, is quite modern and it was something that caught my eye straight away. Maybe it was the hot pink writing talking about the benefits of the quinoa in this packet – 100% natural, gluten free, dairy free, vegan friendly, nut free and only 20 minutes cooking time. Or was it the perfect size for two people? Maybe it was the convenient way in which the quinoa came – flavoured so I didn’t have to add my own flavours. Or the cooking time and simplicity of preparing. I’m not sure which one appealed to me first, all I know is I’m so glad I had to try this packet quinoa. It made my first quinoa experience perfect and I will definitely be getting this again!

There were a couple of different flavours to choose from but as I was making quinoa and kale patties, I decided to keep it simple and try the lemon and thyme quinoa. Once I got it home and opened the packet, it certainly got my attention – a slight lemon tang that wasn’t overpowering thrown back with thyme (I use thyme in my chicken schnitzel and I love its flavour!) and wholemeal. The smell reminded me of making my wholemeal garlic bread.

Once placed in the saucepan of water and it came to boil, the smells of lemon and thyme filled the house! Mmmmmm . . . mmmmmmm . . . mmmmmmm . . . I could just eat this right now the smell was that good! No adding salt to the water, as you would rice or pasta and cook for 10 minutes, allowing it to stand for a further 10 minutes off the heat – which is how I cook my rice. Once finished, I got a fork to separate the grains, like cous cous, and tasted quinoa for the first time. And WOW! I could have eaten the whole packet right there and then it was that good! The perfect amount of seasonings hit your tastebuds, telling your brain to put more in your mouth!

This was not what I was expecting for my first experience at quinoa. I think I was expecting a more basic taste, like rice and quite possibly, if I had of bought the plain quinoa, I’m sure it would have tasted plain. I am so glad for the convenience of flavoured, packet quinoa and look forward to trying all flavours. I think this will become a permanent feature in our pantry!

As I do taste testing on a regular basis, I would be more than happy to sample products from any where in the world. Feel free to PM me at foodfairywishes [at] gmail [dot] com (or press the envelope button at the top of my blog page) and I’ll be happy to send you my address so I can write about your products I sample. I look forward to hearing from you.

In case you’re all wondering, I am not being paid by any company/ies to write about their products. These are my own opinions. Please feel free to try the product/s for yourself and write your comments along with my post. Remember, we’re all different, who have different tastes and like different flavours.